Individual self-adhering bandage strips are well known in the prior art, and are extremely useful for home treatment of minor cuts and abrasions. One such individual bandage product that has enjoyed a great deal of success in this area is the Bandaid Brand Sheer Strip. Individual self-adhering bandages are available in a number of sizes, with a popular size being 3/4 inch.times.3 inches.
Individual self-adhering bandages are typically sold in individually wrapped units that are provided in boxes of twenty to thirty bandages. These bandages are difficult to dispense and apply due to the packaging arrangements in which they are sold. For example, the individually wrapped bandages are difficult to take out of the box one at a time because they are sufficiently thin that it is hard to grasp one at a time. At times a folded end of one package will catch on another package, further hindering separation of the bandages. Once a bandage has been separated from the rest of the bandages in the box, the wrapper must be removed in order to apply the bandage to the skin. The wrappers are usually designed to be torn apart by pulling on tabs at one end of the package, or by pulling on a little red string that will in turn tear the side of the package. Thus, removing the wrapper from each individual bandage may require a fair amount of finger dexterity. This process is also complicated when the injury to be protected by the bandage is on one of the hands.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,634 to Wilson discloses a package for dispensing reclosable plastic bags. The bags are arranged in a stack and are adhered one to another along alternately opposite edges of the bags. These bags are placed in a box having an opening in the upper surface of the box with the top bag in the stack extending through the opening. The user withdraws the bag through the opening in the top of the box, and the adhesive will pull the bottom edge of the next successive bag through the opening. The bags may be separated by peeling the adhesive coated edge of the bag dispensed from the next successive bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,666 to Mertens discloses a package for individually dispensing notepapers having a repositionable pressure-sensitive adhesive applied along one of the sheets. These notepapers are adhered one to another along opposite edges of successive sheets, and are dispensed from a card stock box with an opening in the top wall and having polymeric flaps extending into the opening that form an arcuate bend when a notepaper is withdrawn, thus reducing curl of the notepaper.